The Evening Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1939. MASTERING THE SUBMARINE.

Evening Star, Issue 23378, 22 September 1939, Page 8

The Evening Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1939. MASTERING THE SUBMARINE.

Oku of the most important points made by Mr Chamberlain in his latest House of Commons speech was embodied in his outline of British policy in conducting the war at sea. The situation, he told the House, had been one of intense, continuous naval activity, mainly in the form of attacks on U-boats carried out by destroyers, small craft, and fleet arm action under cover of main fleet squadrons. In the North Sea area in particular this relentless offensive against undersea craft can be waged in conjunction with maintenance of the blockade of German ports, and so the people of the Allied countries can take comfort from the fact that very early in the hostilities two forms of strategy have been adopted which, if the measure of success already reported is kept up, will go a long.way towards extinguishing the conflagration. In the last war a German triumph was never nearer than when the unrestricted submarine warfare of 1917 was at its height. When the Allies refused to consider her proffered peace terms at the end of 1916 Germany saw that her fate was sealed unless she could by some means break the Allied sea power. The German High Naval Command was granted its wish, with the proclamation that after February 1 submarines would sink all merchant ships on sight and without warning. The aim was to strike a fatal blow by bringing the Allied, and more especially the British, sea-borne trade to a standstill by sinking so many ships as to reduce seriously the available tonnage and to make the merchantmen refuse to take the risk of sailing. But it was never the way of British sailormen to shirk danger. Many ships were lost, but many ships still braved the seas, and the heart of the United Kingdom was kept beating. It is interesting to recall man’s ingenuity in beating down the undersea menace. Besides the coming into being of the “ Q ” ships and the development of the depth bomb, every other known method of protecting shipping was adopted. The difficulty of organising the convoy system on an adequate basis was perhaps greater in those days than it is now, for the German high sea fleet was a power to be reckoned with, and it was not possible to detail destroyers in large numbers to protect merchantmen. The arrival of an American flotilla at Queenstown and a Japanese one in the Mediterranean eased the situation. Tho Admiralty under Jellicoe persevered, and by the end of May the convoy system was in full swing. From then on the losses began to dwindle in encouragingly regular fashion. Although Great Britain has not this time tho benefit of such useful naval support as came from Japan and America, she is fresh and well armed for the fray, wise and experienced in strategy, and in possession of improved devices for countering tho danger. Furthermore, tho German high sea fleet is a mere shadow of what it was over twenty years ago.

As, Mr Chamberlain points out, the nation is not now on the defensive as it was during the last war. It is carrying out an active offensive against tho P’-boats, which are being relentlessly attacked wherever they disclose themselves. That Germany Lad prepared for this conflict was proved by tho disposition of her submarines on the outbreak of hostilities. It was only natural that for a while a certain advantage should have lain with her aggressive undersea craft. But, whereas 17 ships were sunk m the first week, the number of victims fell to 13 in the second. When it is considered that the average weekly loss in the last war was 39 ships, it should be realised that the Royal Navy has the position as nearly under control as is possible in these grim days. Germany’s position, on the other hand, is worse than it was in the Kaiser’s day. According to a communique issued by tho Ministry of Information, the number of her submarines sunk in a fortnight worked out at an average of from three to three and a-half a week, compared with an average of just over one a week in 1917 and one and a-half a week in 1918. As time goes on the situation should be still more reassuring.